African Journal of Economic Review

Factors Contributing to Maternal Mortality in Uganda

Ruth Atuhaire, Will Kaberuka

Abstract

The study aimed at establishing the factors affecting maternal mortality in Uganda. It was guided by the following objectives; to investigating whether the number of antenatal Care visits, maternal education, age, area and region of residence had any effect on maternal mortality in Uganda. Descriptive statistics are used to summarize characteristics of the respondents, and the results presented in frequencies and percentages. Cross tabulations on the number of antenatal care visits, maternal education, region where mother comes from, age and area of residence to maternal mortality were run to establish the association between them. The Binary Logistic model was used to analyze the relationship between maternal mortality on the number of antenatal care visits, maternal education, age, area and region of residence. All the variables apart from area of residence were found to be significant at bivariate level. The study found mothers who make fewer or no ANC visits had a higher likelihood of death, both for themselves and their babies, than those who had more visits. It was also found that, mothers living in rural areas, compared to those in urban areas, are more likely to die due to pregnancy or related conditions. Maternal education, especially at secondary and tertiary levels increases the likelihood of using and attending ANC hence reducing maternal mortality. The study recommends that the government of Uganda and other stakeholders should increase efforts to enhance female education to attain favorable maternal health outcomes in the future and also to sensitize families more on the effectiveness of attending at least 3 ANC so as to reduce the scourge of maternal mortality.